Cahoots writes on Sucking Downward.
"good advice i think, the only prob is some times getting another job is not a great option coz of responsibilities or bad market. And in case of people who don't deal with clients (like me) our firm really doesn't care how we dress...i am wondering if i shd still spend money on good clothes...usually i don't."
I hate to write about what I consider to be trivial matters and clothes is (are?) trivial. But they make a difference or we wouldn't spend billions of dollars on them and have fashion magazines and all that stuff.
And people judge people by how they dress. Trivial again but true. And there has never been a better time to dress well and dress well cheaply.
Lets take Cahoots. Cahoots says her firm (assuming Cahoots is female, maybe not) doesn't care how the employees look because they don't deal with clients. But if you are wanting to advance in your firm then your clients are not the outside clients, they are 'clients' as in your bosses. And one way to get in the 'club' is to dress like the other members of the club, the club being the management that runs the place. So if your boss dresses one way and you, a member of the great unwashed, dress another way you are telegraphing to them "I don't want to be a member of your lousy club" and you never will be.
Some people literally wear their individuality on their backs, and fronts. They are saying I will dress the way I want so screw you, judge me on my talents, not my clothes. The good employee that wants to make more than the minimum wage says 'why introduce a non-issue like clothes into my career plan? Dress decently, eliminate the issue and judge me on my real contributions to the firm.'
And it is easy and while some expense is involved it is not a deal breaker, not with the expanse of options out there. First the easy part. Determine if you want to be part of the club, the managment. You probably do because that is where the money is and I always wanted to be in on the decision making process rather than being told about the decision after the fact. So lets assume you have some amibition and want to make the big bucks.
Now for the next easy part. If you have concluded that you are a grooming nightmare, you are probably right. If you are all in black or nose rings or way oversized droopy jeans and your bosses are in golf shirts, you have a problem. Or if you are the one in the golf shirt and they are in the other stuff, you have a problem. Which is the solution. Look over the management team starting at the top and pick out the one or two that suit you from a physical match up and the ones you wouldn't mind dressing like. Take a quick inventory of what they wear and duplicate it.
But they have more money and shop in real expensive stores, you say. Not really. Clothes are cheap if you do it right. If you work for a company with a business casual policy (and who doesn't?) just take your list and head to Eddie Bauer, Lands End, Target, Gap and so on. Better yet go to their outlet stores. A stop for us on any trip south of here is always the Bass andLiz Claiborne outlet stores. Sue shakes them down and comes away the best dressed at her job. For next to nothing.
If you are in a stuffy, suit type environment you may have to wait awhile. Department stores have their major sales twice a year. Just call for the dates. I figured I needed four good suits in my inventory at any one time so bought one in the winter, one in the summer and so on. I needed eight good shirts, four blue and four white and so a call to Lands End when they had their sales twice a year and a box ended up on the front porch and I was good for another six months. Ties the same way.
Does it cost money? Yes. Will it kill you? No. Is it worth it? Maybe not if you are Einstein. But for those who are not rocket scientists, it probably is.
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